This application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. 121 to U.S. application Ser. No. 11/337,167, filed on Jan. 20, 2006, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Application Ser. No. 60/668,485 filed Apr. 5, 2005. That application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate generally to wellbore fluids. More specifically, embodiments relate to displacement and chemical breaker fluids.
2. Background Art
During the drilling of a wellbore, various fluids are typically used in the well for a variety of functions. The fluids may be circulated through a drill pipe and drill bit into the wellbore, and then may subsequently flow upward through wellbore to the surface. During this circulation, the drilling fluid may act to remove drill cuttings from the bottom of the hole to the surface, to suspend cuttings and weighting material when circulation is interrupted, to control subsurface pressures, to maintain the integrity of the wellbore until the well section is cased and cemented, to isolate the fluids from the formation by providing sufficient hydrostatic pressure to prevent the ingress of formation fluids into the wellbore, to cool and lubricate the drill string and bit, and/or to maximize penetration rate.
In most rotary drilling procedures the drilling fluid takes the form of a “mud,” i.e., a liquid having solids suspended therein. The solids function to impart desired rheological properties to the drilling fluid and also to increase the density thereof in order to provide a suitable hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of the well. The drilling mud may be either a water-based or an oil-based mud.
Drilling muds may consist of polymers, biopolymers, clays and organic colloids added to a water-based fluid to obtain the required viscous and filtration properties. Heavy minerals, such as barite or calcium carbonate, may be added to increase density. Solids from the formation are incorporated into the mud and often become dispersed in the mud as a consequence of drilling. Further, drilling muds may contain one or more natural and/or synthetic polymeric additives, including polymeric additives that increase the rheological properties (e.g., plastic viscosity, yield point value, gel strength) of the drilling mud, and polymeric thinners and flocculents.
Polymeric additives included in the drilling fluid may act as fluid loss control agents. Fluid loss control agents, such as starch, prevent the loss of fluid to the surrounding formation by reducing the permeability of filter cakes formed on the newly exposed rock surface. In addition, polymeric additives are employed to impart sufficient carrying capacity and thixotropy to the mud to enable the mud to transport the cuttings up to the surface and to prevent the cuttings from settling out of the mud when circulation is interrupted.
Many drilling fluids may be designed to form a thin, low-permeability filter cake to seal permeable formations penetrated by the drill bit. The filter cake is essential to prevent or reduce both the loss of fluids into the formation and the influx of fluids present in the formation. Upon completion of drilling, the filter cake may stabilize the wellbore during subsequent completion operations such as placement of a gravel pack in the wellbore. Filter cakes often comprise bridging particles, cuttings created by the drilling process, polymeric additives, and precipitates. One feature of a drilling fluid is to retain these solid and semi-solid particles as a stable suspension, free of significant settling over the time scale of drilling operations.
The selection of the type of drilling fluid to be used in a drilling application involves a careful balance of both the good and bad characteristics of the drilling fluids in the particular application and the type of well to be drilled. The primary benefits of selecting an oil-based drilling fluid, also known as an oil-based mud, include: superior hole stability, especially in shale formations, formation of a thinner filter cake than the filter cake achieved with a water-based mud, excellent lubrication of the drilling string and downhole tools, and penetration of salt beds without sloughing or enlargement of the hole, as well as other benefits that should be known to one of skill in the art.
An especially beneficial property of oil-based muds is their excellent lubrication qualities. These lubrication properties permit the drilling of wells having a significant vertical deviation, as is typical of off-shore or deep water drilling operations or when a horizontal well is desired. In such highly deviated holes, torque and drag on the drill string are a significant problem because the drill pipe lies against the low side of the hole, and the risk of pipe sticking is high when water-based muds are used. In contrast, oil-based muds provide a thin, slick filter cake that helps to prevent pipe sticking, and thus the use of the oil-based mud can be justified.
Despite the many benefits of using oil-based muds, they have disadvantages. In general, the use of oil-based drilling fluids and muds have high initial and operational costs. These costs can be significant depending on the depth of the hole to be drilled. However, the higher costs can often be justified if the oil-based drilling fluid prevents the caving in or hole enlargement that can greatly increase drilling time and costs.
Disposal of oil-coated cuttings is another primary concern, especially for off-shore or deep-water drilling operations. In these latter cases, the cuttings must be either washed clean of the oil with a detergent solution that also must be disposed, or the cuttings must be shipped back to shore for disposal in an environmentally safe manner. Another consideration that must be taken into account is the local governmental regulations that may restrict the use of oil-based drilling fluids and muds for environmental reasons.
Oil-based muds typically contain some water, either from the formulation of the drilling fluid itself, or water may be intentionally added to affect the properties of the drilling fluid or mud. In such water-in-oil type emulsions, also known as invert emulsions, an emulsifier is used to stabilize the emulsion. In general, the invert emulsion may contain both water soluble and oil soluble emulsifying agents. Typical examples of such emulsifiers include polyvalent metal soaps, fatty acids and fatty acid soaps, and other similar suitable compounds that should be known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
After any completion operations have been accomplished, removal of filter cake remaining on the sidewalls of the wellbore may be necessary. Although filter cake formation is essential to drilling operations, the filter cake can be a significant impediment to the production of hydrocarbon or other fluids from the well if, for example, the rock formation is plugged by the filter cake. Because filter cake is compact, it often adheres strongly to the formation and may not be readily or completely flushed out of the formation by fluid action alone.
The removal of filter cake has been conventionally achieved with water-based treatments that include: an aqueous solution with an oxidizer (such as persulfate), a hydrochloric acid solution, organic (acetic, formic) acid, combinations of acids and oxidizers, and aqueous solutions containing enzymes. For example, the use of enzymes to remove filter cake is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,818. Chelating agents (e.g., EDTA) have also been used to promote the dissolution of calcium carbonate. According to traditional teachings, the oxidizer and enzyme attack the polymer fraction of the filter cake and the acids typically attack the carbonate fraction (and other minerals). Generally, oxidizers and enzymes are ineffective in breaking up the carbonate portion, and acid are ineffective on the polymer portions.
One of the most problematic issues facing filter cake removal involves the placement of the clean-up solutions. Because one of the more common components in a filter cake is calcium carbonate, a clean-up solution would ideally include hydrochloric acid, which reacts very quickly with calcium carbonate. However, while effective in targeting calcium carbonate, such a strong acid is also reactive with any calcium carbonate in the formation (e.g., limestone), and can permeate into the formation.
The use of traditional emulsifiers and surfactants in the invert drilling fluid systems that formed the filter cake can further complicate the clean-up process in open-hole completion operations. Specifically, fluids using traditional surfactant and emulsifier materials may require the use of solvents and other surfactant washes to penetrate the filter cake and reverse the wettability of the filter cake particles. Invert emulsions drilling fluids that exhibit an acid induced phase change reaction have been previously described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,218,342, 6,790,811, and 6,806,233 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0147404, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety. The fluids disclosed in these references all contain one form or another of an ethoxylated tertiary amine compound that stabilizes the invert emulsion when it is not protonated. Upon protonation of the amine compound, the invert emulsion reverses and becomes a regular emulsion. In most cases, deprotonation of the amine compound allows for the reformation of an invert emulsion. The clean-up of wells drilled with this invert emulsion drilling fluid may be simplified by using a wash fluid that contains acid in a concentration sufficient to protonate the amine surfactant in the drilling fluid (and hence the filter cake). Thus, the presence of the amine surfactant in this drilling fluid may control the phase state (i.e., invert versus regular emulsions) of the fluids in the well. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,888,944 describes the use of an acid sensitive surfactant that stabilizes the invert emulsion of the drilling fluid. Upon the addition of an acid in a wash fluid, for example, the surfactant immediately protonates to break or invert the invert emulsion to an oil-in-water type emulsion.
The problems of efficient well clean-up, stimulation, and completion are a significant issue in all wells, and especially in open-hole horizontal well completions. The productivity of a well is somewhat dependent on effectively and efficiently removing the filter cake while minimizing the potential of water blocking, plugging, or otherwise damaging the natural flow channels of the formation, as well as those of the completion assembly. Thus there exists a continuing need for fluids that effectively clean the well bore and do not inhibit the ability of the formation to produce oil or gas once the well is brought into production.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a displacement and chemical breaker solution that will remove invert emulsion filter cake without damaging the formation while allowing for easy placement of the solution in the wellbore and control of the phase state of the drilling fluids in the well.